shopping trips

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We decided to hit Target last night to stock up on some more of my favorite SoBe Lifewater, and I picked up a few more deals while I was there:

One thing that really excited me is I noticed a change to the registers while I was checking out. If a coupon was worth more than the price of an item, it automatically adjusted itself down!

While it's a bummer that there's no potential for overage anymore, this should save many of you some headaches with cashiers that are clueless about how to handle a coupon with a value in excess of the product price, especially when picking up the FREE after coupon travel size items.

It's been awhile since I've been to CVS, but I had a good trip last Saturday. I started out with $9 in ECBs, and paid $11.39 out of pocket for everything pictured. I wiped out my ECBs to buy the toilet paper, but TP deals have been pretty scarce lately. Oh, almost forgot -- I'll get $8.97 back via the Schick Hydro Razor mail-in rebate, effectively making my OOP $2.42!

I hit Target on Saturday to use up a number of free product coupons that I had on hand along with a few other deals. The cashier gave me the overage on the FREE Travel Size K-Y Jelly, so I was able to pick up everything shown for just $2.54!

I went back to Target yesterday to get a price adjustment on a suitcase (over a $40 difference!), and I used some free Healthy Choice and Marie Callender's coupons that I've been holding onto for awhile to maximize the buy 4 get 1 free offer.

In the end I paid $31.34 for everything shown, and I received (2) $5 gift cards for the SoBe Lifewater deal. The Black and Blue Berry is my favorite drink, and my husband likes the Strawberry Dragonfruit, so I was glad to stock up at a decent price!

All three trips came to a total of $36.30, making for a savings of $171.58! Obviously these savings are a bit atypical since I had a number of free product coupons, but I think this demonstrates that often it pays to hold on to these coupons to use them when you can maximize their effectiveness by working them into other deals.

One of the things you guys asked for in my recent survey was for me to post more of my personal shopping trips, and I'm happy to oblige!

Now keep in mind this particular trip isn't actually my shopping trip. I made a list for my hubby and sent him off to Walmart with a stack of coupons. He did a pretty good job, bringing home everything pictured for just $7.11 and saved $15.18!

Chef's Requested Bacon-Wrapped Filets, $5.97 -- used $3/1 Chef's Requested printable. These got mixed reviews in the comments, but I figured we'd give them a try. They actually cost about $2.50 more here than in other regions, so I probably wouldn't have bought them if I was the one shopping, but that's okay.

(4) KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce, $1.42 -- used $1/1 KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce printable. There was also a $1/1 KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce or Marinade in the 5/9 SS that will work. This also was more than anticipated, but we were out and he decided to buy it anyhow. I probably would have only purchased one and held on to the other coupons for a better sale, but I'm trying not to be too critical since he's still very much a newbie couponer, LOL.

Have you been stockpiling dishwasher detergent with the $2.50/1 Finish or Electrasol coupon that was in the 1/3 Smartsource insert? If not, there's still time to order some coupons from eBay or a coupon clipping service and use them before they expire on 1-31-10.

All together (including the $8.35 I spent on coupons) I spent slightly over $18 for 22 boxes of Electrasol/Finish Dishwashing Detergent, including 6 double-count packages, a savings of over 80% off. Had I paid retail for them, I'd have paid at least $97 -- wow!

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About Deal Seeking Mom

Tara Kuczykowski is a married mom of three boys and two girls, ages 5 to 11 years, living in Columbus, OH.

As a former career-oriented professional turned stay-at-home mom, reconciling champagne tastes with a tap-water budget was a challenge, especially with a large family. By learning how to cut costs on her family's basic needs, she has found the key to having more disposable income for the things in life that make it worth living.